<!--[if gte mso 9]><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-AUJAX-NONE<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]><![endif]--><!--StartFragment-->Former Liberal premier Jeff Kennett has launched a blistering attack on the Federal Parliament saying the lack of national leadership is failing voters and the question of welcoming tens of thousands of refugees from Syria into Australia should not even be up for debate.

Hailing Australia as a great country built on successive waves of immigration since 1788, Mr Kennett called on the federal government to quit plans to bomb Syria and spend the money on processing refugees for resettlement in Australia instead.<!--[endif]-->

"This country is a country that has always had its arms open wide. What I see this with this latest discussion, which is based on humanitarian grounds, is actually a wonderful opportunity for us to take over the next three years 50,000 people who are displaced of their freedoms," he said.

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He said instead of constantly looking to raise taxes, state and federal leaders should seize the opportunity of boosting the population with traditionally hard-working migrants as a different way of expanding the economy.

Migrants cross into Hungary from countries such as Syria.Credit:Getty Images

"This shouldn't be requiring much debate," he said.

The former Victorian leader said it was up to political leaders to stare down bigots who oppose any mass migration because of their religious beliefs or claims they not fleeing persecution. Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi is being branded an "embarrassment" for saying the toddler Aylan Kurdi, pictured drowned on a Turkish beach, was not a legitimate refugee.

"There will be always be people who oppose, and there are always going to be some bigots, but leadership rises above it and the Australian public is desperately crying out for leadership," Mr Kennett said. "The Federal Parliament has failed, absolutely failed, the people of this country for a decade," a passionate Mr Kennett told Fairfax Media.

Mr Kennett urged opponents to "open their eyes": "I say to those Australians who are expressing 'anti' views, open your eyes, look around you. Look in hospitals, without our immigration programs many of these institutions could not operate."

The Syrian refugee crisis dominated debate in the Liberal and Coalition party room meetings on Tuesday, with 17 MPs speaking on the issue for about an hour.

Mr Abbott said the National Security Committee of cabinet would be briefed by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, who is in Geneva and has now met with UNHCR officials.

A decision on whether to go ahead and raise the overall refugee intake is expected as early as Wednesday.

One Liberal MP said there had been a decisive shift in community sentiment, to the effect that Australia now needed to do more by accepting more refugees.

This view was backed by several colleagues, though one MP said it should be remembered that Australians didn't want to see the nation take too many refugees.

The Prime Minister said Australia would look to do more, consistent with the nation's interests.

Mr Abbott also pointed out that Australia only now had the capacity to act on the issue because his government had stopped the flow of asylum seeker boats.

He promised Australia would act with "strength and decency", and "judiciously" in the days ahead.

Air strikes on Syria

The National Security Committee's meeting on Tuesday is expected to finalise plans to authorise air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria.

Mr Kennett said military action was not the right response for Australia.

"It's too far away, we haven't got a military force of substance," he said.

"So for goodness sake, spend that money on setting up the camps to process these people and bring back 50,000 who want a new life and new hope."

Mr Kennett dismissed suggestions that Australia lacks the infrastructure to house 50,000 refugees and said migrants traditionally worked harder than locally born Australians and pointed the effect the Vietnamese influx in the 1970s had in regenerating Sydney and Melbourne.

The federal opposition is calling for an emergency one-off 10,000 increase to the intake along with $100 million funding for the UNHCR.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is suggesting the Coalition could agree to offering refugees a mix of temporary and permanent protection visas. Mr Kennett is the third state Liberal voice to call for greater humanitarian action, in sharp contrast with Mr Abbott's response, which will be finalised when the Immigration Minister Peter Dutton returns from Geneva, where he has been holding talks with the UNHCR.